An experimental study of spin wave quantization in arrays of micron size magnetic Ni80Fe20 islands (dots and wires) by means of Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy is reported. Dipolar-dominated spin wave modes laterally quantized in a single island with quantized wavevector values determined by the size of the island are studied. In the case of wires the frequencies of the modes and the transferred wavevector interval, where each mode is observed, are calculated. The results of the calculations are in a good agreement with the experimental data. In the case of circular dots the frequencies of the lowest observed modes decrease with increasing distance between the dots, thus indicating an essential dynamic magnetic dipole interaction between the dots with small interdot distances.

The first observation of spatiotemporal self-focusing of spin waves is reported. The experimental results are obtained for dipolar spin waves in yttrium-iron-garnet films by means of a newly developed space- and time-resolved Brillouin light scattering technique. They demonstrate self-focusing of a moving wave pulse in two spatial dimensions, and formation of localized two-dimensional wave packets, the collapse of which is stopped by dissipation. The experimental results are in good qualitative agreement with numerical simulations.

Absract: We report on measurements of the two-dimensional intensity distribtion of linear and non-linear spin wave excitations in a LuBiFeO film. The spin wave intensity was detected with a high-resolution Brillouinlight scatteringspectroscopy setup. The observed snake-like structure of the spin wave intensity distribution is understood as a mode beating between modes with different lateral spin wave intensity distributions. The theoretical treatment of the linear regime is performed analytically, whereas the propagation of non-linear spin waves is simulated by a numerical solution of a non-linear Schrödinger equation with suitable boundary conditions.

A new advanced space- and time-resolved Brillouin light scattering (BLS) technique is used to study diffraction of two-dimensional beams and pulses of dipolar spin waves excited by strip-line antennas in tangentially magnetized garnet films. The new technique is an effective tool for investigations of two-dimensional spin wave propagation with high spatial and temporal resolution. Linear effects, such as the unidirectional exci-tation of magnetostatic surface waves and the propagation of backward volume magnetostatic waves (BVMSW) in two preferential directions due to the non-collinearity of their phase and group velocities are investigated in detail. In the nonlinear regime stationary and non-stationary self-focusing effects are studied. It is shown, that non-linear diffraction of a stationary BVMSW beam, having a finite transverse aperture, leads to self-focusing of the beam at one spatial point. Diffraction of a finite-duration (non-stationary) BVMSW pulse leads to space-time self-focusing and formation of a strongly localized two-dimensional wave packet (spin wave bullet). Numerical modeling of the diffraction process by using a variational approach and direct numerical integration of the two-dimensional non-linear Schrödinger equation provides a good qualitative description of the observed phenomena.

The first observation of self-focusing of dipolar spin waves in garnet film media is reported. In particular, we show that the quasi-stationary diffraction of a finite-aperture spin wave beam in a focusing medium leads to the concentration of the wave power in one focal point rather than along a certain line (channel). The obtained results demonstrate the wide applicability of non-linear spin wave media to study non-linear wave phenomena using an advanced combined microwave-Brillouin light scattering technique for a two-dimensional mapping of the spin wave amplitudes.